Senior Bralon Taplin posted a collegiate leading time in the open 400 at the Sun Angel Classic in Tempe, Arizona, where he finished second to the defending Olympic champion in the event, Kirani James, ahead of the reigning Bowerman trophy winner, his teammate Deon Lendore.

Taplin posted a of 44.89 in his outdoor 400 debut. Lendore finished third behind James with a time of 45.18. Taplin and Lendore now sit at number three and number five on the current world list.

“I went into the race as an underdog,” Taplin said to the media after the race. “The race was billed as Kirani vs. Lendore, so there was no pressure on me. My goal was to win and I thought I had the race at 300m. I kicked pretty hard, but then Kirani kicked hard to pull away. I wanted to win, and I was going for the win. I’m happy that I ran that fast, I’ve been waiting to run 44 for a long time, so feels good to finally run it.”  

On the women’s side, the quartet of Jennifer Madu, Ashton Purvis, Kamaria Brown, and Aaliyah Brown posted a world leading time of 43.03 in the 4×100 relay. They usurped the previous mark of 43.13 set by Jamaica’s University of Technology in February.

Other results saw Shelbi Vaughn claim her fourth straight victory in the discus with a throw of 192 feet, seven inches. Vaughn finished over seven feet ahead of runner up Siositina Hakeai of New Zealand.  

Shamier Little and Gregory Coleman swept the 400 hurdles for the second consecutive week after both taking the top spot at last weekend’s Stanford invitational. Little and Coleman finished with times of 56.43 and 50.22, respectively.
Coleman was also a part of the men’s 4×100 relay team, where Taplin, Shavez Hart, and Devin Jenkins joined him to finish second behind a group of professionals from the World Athletic Center.